What We Know About Protein
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What do we know about proteins? Proteins are part of our lives. These are molecules consisting of even smaller molecules called Amino Acids. These strings are then folded into complicated constructions that perform millions of functions in our body.

Proteins are associated with motion. Motion is life, the basic quality of animal life. Proteins are found everywhere: DNA, enzymes, foods. To include protein into your diet, thus, constitutes a very important and formative function of our living. That is why it is of utmost importance to provide quality whole foods protein to the growing bodies – children, during the formative years when all organs and brain functions are developing. Obviously, we need quality protein after we become grown-ups!

Let’s take a look at proteins and different kinds of it, and how we could improve our consumption of it in our daily living.

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Good Morning! I need to work on getting more protein in both my diet and my kids-not a huge red meat family here(barely eat any at all) and Ive been told that’s one of the quickest ways to get good amounts of quality protein

Protein Sources
We receive protein from different food groups. Once consumed, protein breaks down to Amino Acids and then undergoes an amazing transformation rebuilding into our body’s proteins. Simply amazing!

Here some food groups with different concentrations of proteins.

Concentrated protein foods include red meats, poultry, fish, eggs, nuts, seeds, cheese, yogurt and beans. Others are wheat germ, brewer’s yeast, nutritional yeast and some algae such as spirulina. These foods contain about 20% protein or more.
Keep in mind that spirulina or algae are difficult on the liver due to some of their contents. They are often found in some “green superfood’ powders, food bars and drinks.

Medium-protein foods include grains such as rice, wheat, oats, millet and barley. These contain 6 to 14% protein and are considered incomplete proteins. This means they should be combined with other protein foods to provide complete protein.
Unfortunately, modern hybrid grains often contain much less protein than the grains that were grown 100 years ago or earlier. Wheat, for example, used to have 12-14% protein and now contains six percent in many instances. Even organically grown grains today are hybrids.

Low-protein foods include fruits, vegetables and juices. These contain less than 5% protein. Obviously, you need to supplement this consumption with other proteins to achieve a full whole food diet requirements.

The most popular protein drinks and bars are often made from soy. The label may say made from soy protein isolate or just soy or soybean protein. However, often it just says textured vegetable protein and this also means soy in most all cases. Thousands of products are made of this, such as Hamburger Helper, vegetarian burgers and many other products.

Soy problems. Soy protein powders and foods made with it are probably the worst ones and are best avoided altogether. Soy is not a particularly high quality source of protein, although it is technically a complete protein.

However, the soy is always processed and must be. This renders it less desirable as processing damages the protein structure a lot. In fact, it is usually a leftover byproduct of the manufacture of soybean oil. Chemicals such as acetone may be used to extract the oil, leaving a residue of chemicals in the soy protein.

Soy has other drawbacks such as containing too much copper, low zinc, enzyme inhibitors, thyroid inhibitors and other toxic residues. Its main benefit is its low cost, which is very important to food manufacturers.

Eggs. Egg protein powder is also often labeled as albumin. This is generally a much better form of protein powder, drink or bar than soy or most others.

Milk Sources. Another excellent source of protein powders widely used in some health bars and powders is whey powder, usually made from cow or goat milk.

The other form of milk protein powder widely used called casein. This one is considered inferior to whey because it causes many sensitivities or allergies in some people. Casein is a sticky substance that is mucus-forming for many people as well.

Protein powders may also be made from rice, yeast or fish. These are also excellent for those who cannot tolerate the others.

Animal sources such as fish are generally more complete proteins, but are also more costly. Nutritional and brewer’s yeast are good sources of protein that also contain selenium, chromium and B-complex vitamins that most people need.

Rice or even oat protein sources are good if you are allergic to many protein foods. However, they are less complete proteins.

I love eggs and most milk sources (and rice but only white which I hear is not as healthy for me to begin with).I should get some protein powder to put in smoothies when I make them for a little extra benefit for the kids and me

as I stated country gal I get my eggs produce and meat right her on the farm we live of the land its the best way to get you food with out chemical and injected animals we even hunt and fish for our food and I never eat or drink them poteine bars or drinks

This is all great info I can have my kids read. Thanks 🙂 My younger sister found out she is allergic to soy and that is when I found out that soy is in more foods than we know about. I do know that if I have no meat in the house I tend to eat eggs and peanuts when I feel I am craving protein.

Predigested protein and pure amino acids. Some protein supplements such as Bragg’s Liquid Aminos contain pre-digested protein. This means the protein has been broken down into its amino acids by a chemical process so it requires much less digestion.

Hydrolyzed protein and free-form amino acids are the best ways to get protein if one’s digestion is totally compromised, as occurs with cancer patients and some other ailments.

Hydrolyzed protein. These are found in some products. Thee source is often soy, however. This is a definite disadvantage. Also, unfortunately, hydrolyzed protein always contains monosodium glutamate or MSG, a harmful food chemical. It occurs naturally as part of the processing of hydrolysis. Seacure, however, is a pre-digested fish product that does not contain MSG.

Pure grown amino acids. A much more expensive type of protein supplement is pure amino acids that are made by fungal organisms grown in a laboratory. These usually come in capsules and are called free-form amino acids.

These make excellent supplements unless one is sensitive to the fungus they are made from. The other problem with these is very high cost relative to the other protein supplements discussed above. However, they are excellent for ill people to improve their amino acid intake.

Meal replacements. Protein powders are sold either as meal replacements or to add to a meal. Meal replacements contain extra vitamins and minerals, and usually a sweetener. Products designed to be added to food or drink usually do not contain as much sweeteners or added vitamins.

If you use protein powder as a meal, be sure to buy a product that is enriched with vitamins and minerals. Otherwise, you are getting a very incomplete meal.

It is recommended to replace no more than one meal a day with a protein powder or bar. Protein powders and bars make decent snacks between meals. However, goat cheese, leftover chicken, seeds, nuts, nut butters and other natural foods also make excellent snacks and are often more nutritious and less expensive.

Sugary protein drinks, powders and bars. Beware of bars, powders and meal replacements that are high in sugars. This is often the case because otherwise the product would not taste good.

The label may say sugar, corn syrup, fructose, glucose, lactose, liquid sugar, honey, agave nectar, rice syrup, barley malt or fruit juices. If you are using the powder as a meal replacement, some carbohydrate is often acceptable. If you are adding it to food, beware of how much sugar you are adding to your meal with your protein powder.

It is desirable to avoid all products containing Nutrasweet or Equal that are often used in “low calorie” bars and powdered drink mixes. To sweeten a protein drink, Stevia, xylitol, mnanitol or sorbitol are more healthful sweeteners. Even better, stay with protein foods since all sweet-tasting foods and drinks tend to keep the sweet taste alive and the artificial sweeteners and the others can deceive your body to some degree and are thus less healthful.

Other Additives. Also beware that most protein powders, bars and drinks contain natural or artificial colors and flavors, preservatives and perhaps a dozen other chemicals. This is yet another reason to eat food rather than chemical concoctions.

Also remember that while protein supplements may be helpful at times, they are never a substitute for food. Whole, natural, minimally cooked and processed proteins are essential for our life and our health and there is no substitute for them.

Ive been trying to avoid almost all foods with fructose and corn syrup for a while now (and never was allowed sugar substitutes such as NutraSweet and equal because of my epilepsy as a child and the tendency those fake sweeteners had of setting off episodes) .I do not reall eat pretein bars-I tried them once or twice on my life but would rather have meat-lol (which I also am not a huge fan of)

Complete protein foods. Meats, poultry, fish, eggs, cheese, yogurt, soy and peanuts are considered ‘complete proteins’. This is a useful but not absolutely true concept that means that these proteins contain a good balance of all of the essential amino acids that our bodies need.

Our bodies require at least 22 amino acids for health and well-being. Of these, 10 or so are called ‘essential’. This means we need to ingest them in our diet. We don’t need to eat the other 12 or so, because we can convert the essential ones into them inside our bodies.

Incomplete protein foods. These include grains, beans, nuts, seeds and even some forms of meats such as rabbit. They are commonly eaten as stapes in poorer nations and by strict vegetarians, also called vegans.

If a person does not eat complete protein foods, one must eat a variety of less complete protein foods in order to obtain all the required amino acids. Otherwise deficiency symptoms, some irreversible, will begin to appear.

In our experience, eating a lot of incomplete proteins or lower quality protein foods is never advisable unless one is very ill with cancer or some other extreme situation. They just do not nourish the body as well.

Biological quality. Some protein foods contain a much better balance of the essential amino acids than others. A food with a good balance has a higher rating of biological quality. Egg protein (albumin) rates highest in biological quality. Meat protein has the second best biological quality.

Other quality factors. These include freshness, how the food was grown or raised and how it is prepared. Other quality factors include the breed of chicken or other animal, the soil the food is grown on and many other subtle qualities. Even the altitude at which a food is grown or raised can influence its nutritional qualities, for example.

Proteins must be broken down into their amino acids to be used in our bodies. If they are not properly broken down, they rot or putrefy. This is a very toxic process that literally poisons the body and causes foul-smelling bowel movements and gas. This is how you know some putrefaction is going on.

Pepsin and hydrochloric acid in the stomach and trypsin and chymotrypsin from the pancreas are among the important protein-digesting enzymes. One must have enough of these enzymes to digest the amount of protein one eats or putrefaction will occur to some degree. Most people do not have enough of these, which is why we supplementing with a protein digesting enzyme such as GB-3 or betaine hydrochloride and pepsin may be necessary.

Digestion depends on general nutrition. Our bodies convert sodium chloride to hydrochloric acid in the stomach to help break down protein. Enzyme production also requires zinc, which is deficient in most people due to our depleted soils and refined food diets. For example, vegetarian diets, for example, are lower in zinc. Today, many children are born low in zinc due to their mother’s zinc deficiency.

Other minerals and many vitamins are also needed to make digestive enzymes. Thus one’s entire nutritional state is important for proper utilization of protein and its digestion into simple amino acids. Then these must be recombined to make our proteins. This is discussed later.

Take digestive enzymes if you are unsure whether you are digesting protein properly. My favorite digestive enzymes are pancreatin and ox bile. Hydrochloric acid and pepsin is another common protein-digesting product.

I did not know when proteins do not properly break down that they would rot and putrify. I chew and eat slowly but that started as a diet trick(I knew it took my body 20 mins to realize Im full) The dentist told me years ago more than 90% of all digestion occurred in the mouth -which was the only reason why I chew foods longer/more thoroughly